


it's empty in the valley of your heart

by selahinthesky



Category: Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV)
Genre: Angst, Drabble, F/M, I am so sad, gina is MAD, i have sO MANY FEELINGS, me too honestly, post Season Four finale, the whole gang wants to punch hawkins
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-03
Updated: 2017-06-03
Packaged: 2018-11-08 10:46:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 790
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11079978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/selahinthesky/pseuds/selahinthesky
Summary: i will hold on hope and i won't let you chokeon the noose around your neckand i'll find strength in painand i will change my waysi'll know my name as it's called againsuddenly, amy santiago knows what it feels like to drown.





	it's empty in the valley of your heart

**Author's Note:**

> y'all, that finale had me shook!! this has been floating around in my brain for a few days now but i only just got it down in writing. disclaimer: i wrote this at two am, so sorry if it makes very little sense.
> 
> the name of this fic and any accompanying lyrics are from 'the cave' by mumford and sons. a++++ song, give it a listen.

suddenly, amy santiago knows what it feels like to drown. she cannot breathe and she feels as if someone has punched her in the gut and _she cannot breathe_ because all of the oxygen has left the courtroom. 

she remembers of the time she nearly died in the community pool at the y when she'd been six, how she'd been convinced she could dive deeper and deeper and still make it up to the surface in time but hadn’t made it up, scaring herself and everyone else. it’s a fitting analogy, amy thinks. 

 

all she knows is that things are happening so _fast_. in the 10 seconds she’s been freaking out, an officer has handcuffed rosa, who is trying to say something to a sobbing gina. jake is next, amy thinks with a start. before she knows it, she's thrown herself over the barrier and wrapped her arms around jake’s neck. she is vaguely aware of some officer who is yelling at her to step away, terry who is yelling back, and captain holt who is quietly pulling rank, saying that _’you will give my detectives time alone and you will do it now, so help me god.’_ the sound of camera shutters going off is everywhere; since this was a highly publicized trial, reporters had been allowed in. amy focuses on jake’s voice saying _I love you I love you I love you_ like it is the mantra that will save him as she tries to remember the little things like the gap between his front teeth, how he always inexplicably smells like matzo balls, and the stray curl that always sticks up and not how he shakes. the officer is back again, softer this time, saying he has to take jake away. _don't make this harder for him,_ she scolds herself. amy’s arms untangle from his and she presses one last desperate kiss to his lips and then he is gone, whisked away from amy in a way that is so gentle it is cruel. it registers in her mind that the captain has wrapped a protective arm around her as he steers her out of the courtroom. gina has stopped crying now, and charles, sweet, sweet charles who is jake’s best friend, looks seething and defiant and ready for a fight. 

 

‘we’re going out now,’ terry says quietly. ‘there's going to be a lot of cameras. you guys might want to wipe your eyes.’ 

amy realizes she must look like a raccoon- she had been so confident jake and rosa would win, she hadn't thought to wear waterproof mascara- but somehow, she doesn't care. how can she, when two people she cares so much about have just been ripped away from her? gina is the one who puts amy’s feeling into words. 

 

‘even when I had nothing, I had jake. and I love rosa. i'm not going to wipe my eyes.’ the last words are laced with venom, but it is not directed towards the sarge. amy takes gina’s hand. 

‘the world is going to see what melanie hawkins has done.’ her voice is small but strong and for some reason amy is proud, proud of jake for being brave and proud of her family for sticking together and proud of herself for not falling to the ground right then and there. she marches to the large doors with gina in tow and throws them open. sure enough, there were news crews and cameras and they were all yelling but it didn't matter, because they were paid no mind by some best of brooklyn’s ninety-ninth precinct, who strutted past them with their heads held high. amy feels gina’s hand in hers and terry’s looming figure behind her and the captain’s quiet stoicism and hears charles’ quiet reassurances and she is convinced that maybe, _just maybe_ , she will be okay. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

the next day, amy graces the front covers of no less than six newspapers. one has a picture of her distraught face as the verdict was being called, two more have a picture of her and jake tearfully kissing, two have the picture of her and gina gripping each other tightly, and yet another has the whole squad as they defiantly walked away from the courthouse. she reads the articles and is pleased with what she finds; many of them are critical of the prosecution, finding holes in their story. it is nowhere near perfect, but it is a start. sitting at her desk at the precinct, amy stares blankly at jake’s empty desk. she needs to make a call. 

‘hello? this is detective amy santiago at the ninety-ninth precinct. I need to talk to sophia perez, I have a case I think she may be interested in.’

**Author's Note:**

> we all know that sophia is going to me jake and rosa's lawyer when they appeal FIGHT ME!!! also, check me out on tumblr at welcome-to-the-13th. i post lotsa things on there.


End file.
